I. Field of the Disclosure
The technology of the disclosure relates generally to power saving techniques in computing devices.
II. Background
Computing devices are common within modem society. Ranging from small, mobile computing devices, such as a smart phone or tablet, to large server farms with numerous blades and memory banks, these devices are expected to communicate across myriad networks while providing various other base functions. While desktop devices and servers are generally immune to concerns about power consumption, mobile devices constantly struggle to find a proper balance between available functions and battery life. That is, as more functions are provided, power consumption increases, and battery life is shortened. Servers may likewise have power consumption concerns when assembled in large server farms.
Concurrent with power consumption concerns, improvements in network communications have increased data rates. For example, copper wires have been replaced with higher bandwidth fiber optic cables, and cellular networks have evolved from early Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocols to 4G and Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocols capable of supporting much higher data rates. As the data rates have increased, the need to be able to process these increased data rates within computing devices has also increased. Thus, earlier mobile computing devices may have had internal buses formed according to a High Speed Inter-Chip (HSIC) standard, universal serial bus (USB) standard (and particularly USB 2.0), or universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) standard. However, these buses do not support current data rates.
In response to the need for faster internal buses, the peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) standard, as well as, later generations of USB (e.g., USB 3.0 and subsequent versions) have been adopted for some mobile computing devices. However, while PCIe and USB 3.0 can handle the high data rates currently being used, usage of such buses results in excessive power consumption and negatively impacts battery life by shortening the time between recharging events.